This Russian cabbage soup recipe makes shchi (Щи), the most Russian of soups. If my baboushka wasn’t cooking borscht, she was making a big pot of shchi. An old Russian dish dating to the 9th century, when cabbage came to the ‘Land of the Rus’ from Byzantium, shchi has long been eaten by nobles and peasants alike. While the rich included meat, the poor made a vegetarian broth (shchi vegetarianskiye). My easy Russian cabbage soup recipe makes a vegan shchi if you skip the sour cream. Like borscht, this comforting Russian soup tastes even better the next day.